Appearing alongside him at London's Queens Theatre will be Adrian Mitchell, Inge Elsa Laird, Lemn Sissay and Tom Pickard, as well as jazz musicians Ruth Vaughn and Keith Waithe.

Sir Paul, who recently published a book of his poems, has also appeared at other poetry events including the Hay-on-Wye Literature Festival.

Top 10 children's poems

1. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear

2. Matilda by Hilaire Belloc

3. Don't by Michael Rosen

4. Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

5. On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan

6. Talking Turkeys!! by Benjamin Zephaniah

7. Macavity, The Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot

8. The King's Breakfast by A.A. Milne

9. Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg

10. Down Vith the Children! Do Them In! by Roald Dahl

Other events across the country include a launch of poem-bearing balloons at the Royal Festival Hall at 1000 BST.

National Poetry Day, the theme of which this year is journeys, also sees the publication of a special 10th anniversary edition of The Forward Book of Poetry, Poems of the Decade.

The Forward Prizes 2001, the UK's premier poetry awards, were announced on Wednesday, with Sean O'Brien winning the main award for his collection of pastoral poems, Downriver.

The nation's favourite children's poem was also revealed on Wednesday, on BBC One, as The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear, beating classics like Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" and AA Milne's "The King's Breakfast".

The show was presented by Zoe Ball, with special appearances by Harry Enfield, Patsy Palmer, the cast of EastEnders, Carol Smillie and Steps.

Horseback

BBC Radio 4 will also celebrate National Poetry Day with specially commissioned poems throughout the day on the theme of journeys, including readings by Edwin Morgan, Pascale Petit and Lavinia Greenlaw.

Andrew Motion has written a new poem for the occasion

Many of the poems will be recorded as the poets travel - on tube, bus, even on horseback.

Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has written a new poem which will be broadcast as part of Thought for the Day on the Today programme.

He will be taking part in a live webchat on BBC Radio 4's website at 1545 BST.

And BBC Radio 3 is putting a sonnet online after listeners spent a week compiling the collaborative poem via email, text messages, fax and on the web.

It will appear on In Tune on 4 October.

Manchester's poetry festival will also be launched on the same day, attended by the city's lord mayor, Fiona Bowker, Kim Taylor and Pat Winslow.